WINTER PASSING
Directed & Written by: Adam Rapp, based on his play.
Produced by: P. Jennifer Dana & David Koplan.
Director of Photography: Terry Stacey.
Edited by: Meg Reticker.
Music by: John Kimbrough.
Released by: Yari Film Group.
Country of Origin: USA. 98 min. Rated: R.
With: Zooey Deschanel, Ed Harris, Will Farrell & Amelia Warner.

For years, there’s been a cocktail at all the big Sundance parties that some directors can’t seem to stop drinking. The recipe goes something like this: two parts detached, erudite parents; one part dissatisfied, angry child (aged or young, either will suffice); one part Ed Harris; and one ounce substance abuse. It’s a drink they just can’t keep stocked – and when there’s not enough Harris to go around, caterers use Jeff Daniels and Anthony Hopkins instead.

There’s a fair amount to like about this drama, particularly the cast, but it feels so familiar. A literary agent, played with hilarious acidity by Amy Madigan, tracks down Reese (Zooey Deschanel), the estranged daughter of two American literary heroes, after hearing that a box of love letters has been left to Reese following her mother’s suicide. Reese, after an embittered childhood in a house of depression, intellectualism, and anger, accepts the lucrative publishing offer, but she has to go home for the first time in years to retrieve the vaunted box.

Once there, she discovers not only that her father (Ed Harris) is as disappointed in her as she is in him, but that she’s been replaced by one of her father’s graduate students (Amelia Warner) and a formerly homeless man played by Will Ferrell. It’s an odd homecoming all around. And since she wants to secretly publish the letters, written at the height of both her parents’ artistic output, her quest to find them amid the fully-stocked, ramshackle of a house is slow going enough for her to acclimate to her reformed family.

The plot proceeds exactly as you think it would, but the script and Zooey Deschanel make this film worth watching. It has a slow start, but the dialogue starts to pop once Reese gets home and emotions escalate in the weary household. Playwright and first-time director Adam Rapp's script makes the most of his characters, imbuing them with the right mixture of truly funny moments and emotional depth. While Will Ferrell is both poignant and funny and Ed Harris is…Ed Harris, it’s Deschanel that gets top billing for a reason. Her character, downcast and beaten raw by life, needs a particular mixture of sympathy and annoyance from the audience to make her redemption resonate. As a result, Deschanel’s skill and subdued charisma lift the film out of its Sundance clichés. Zachary Jones
February 17, 2006